Thread: 51 MG restoration.

Lol,, I’m sure it’s just the pic, but thanks Andrew.
And nope Tim, garage is an ice box from November to April every year and very little can get accomplished.
I have cleaned it out (garage) enough( to store everything as removed, as well as have some good working area for the car itself still.. intend to go right back to frame and replace what needs replacing.
Hope to Have it ready to paint and reassemble for May next year.

Keep at it Mike, you will have satisfaction mixed with frustration.

So just for fun I decided to test the forward flip of the windscreen.

Looks pretty neat, and supposedly allowed a greater top speed back when HP was precious. There are mini aerofoil cockpit windscreens available I have seen I’m tempted to add, one day.
Cool, so I left it down overnight, and didn’t even take it out for a test drive.
Well today the windscreen reminded me that glass is natures only semi solid..
Crack running from the top to bottom diagonally on the passenger side appeared over night!!
I guess after lying at one angle for so many years, the glass didnt like laying flat.
Must have been very brittle and thinner in spots for it to go, but was bound to happen, so better now, then after the restore.
It being pretty flat, profile wise, I think I am going to try to fab a replacement out of polycarbonate before committing to finding a glazer local to me.
And I’m leaning towards a transmission conversion to a 5 spd while I have it torn down.
An extra gear would change everything..
Cheers gents.

Ooh, that's a nasty surprise to wake up to.

The polycarb replacement idea makes total sense to me, but then I don't know a damn thing about such things!

That is an awfully, awfully fine look car Mike.

Glass can be a very strange creature.

A few winters ago my rig was in the shop and my buddy Ski loaned me fairly new pickup and the day my rig was done I was going to drive his rig back to him and then he was going to drop me off to get my rig.

I warmed his rig up and took off. I was just driving down the road when 'chink' his frigging windshield cracked!

I was mortified! I told him what happened and offered to pay for the deductible but he just laughed about it and said he figured that it would have happened to him sooner or later.

That windshield is probably laminated (plastic in between two sheets of glass) and any reputable glass shop should be able to cut a new one for you and polish the edges. I've replaced side glass and vent windows many time.

If the windshield is held in with a cloth/rubber stripping let me know as I have rolls of many different thickness and I'd be glad to send what you need north/these are all different thickness with the thickest at about 1/8"--

Likely a bit of WD40 on the hinges for a while may have helped?
One hinge was tighter than the other. Glass was put into a twist.....


Cut square it is cheap. Lots of aftermarkets will love to sell you one.
Hey! YOU deserve a nice, clear, new windshield !

A tinted eyebrow about 3-4 inches down is nice!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Hey! YOU deserve a nice, clear, new windshield !

The few times I have replaced a windshield I have had an ah ha moment and thought, " I have looked through that old piece of sandblasted POS for how long?"

Originally Posted by MikeB52

So just for fun I decided to test the forward flip of the windscreen.

The patina on that car is awesome. Esp the color-match on the gas tank!

Think on it......

Originally Posted by 32t

The few times I have replaced a windshield I have had an ah ha moment and thought, " I have looked through that old piece of sandblasted POS for how long?"

My buddy in California has an Explorer that has around 400K miles on it. I know it's had the engine replaced 3 times (original when to hell during warranty) and I 'think' the tranny 2 times. Anyway his windshield was pock marked and pitted from sand but it didn't really show during the daylight but OMG at night was a haze!

He'd talked to the insurance company quite awhile ago and they wouldn't replace the windshield.

I got a kick out of him. He was going to take a ball peen hammer and put a bullseye right in the middle of his line of sight and then turn it in to the insurance company. Which he did and the insurance said no problem just have this company do the work. Fine so far-------------except they were busy and couldn't help him for about 3 days.

So here he is driving around with this big bullseye for three days. When I told him he should have called the insurance company first then got the appointment he could have waited until the mobile unit could come to his home THEN break the windshield and he goes--I know, I know--hehehehe

When I worked in the autobody trade we'd have customers with a crack in the windshield but their insurance company wouldn't replace it because it wasn't in their line of sight--so take out key and start tapping and usually we could get a crack going right through the line of sight.

The patina goes three layers down I am discovering as I start to sand and peel edges of paint away on fenders and running boards.
The windscreen did twist a bit while lowering since they didn’t use a reverse thread in the one pivot but I thought I accounted for that while lowering. I’ve been squirting mouse milk on hardware for a few weeks now in prep for the pending tear down.
A tinted strip is a great idea I hadn’t even thought of Tom.
Thanks for the idear